Senate Concludes Vote-a-Rama, Passes Inflation Reduction Act

The Senate voted to pass the $750 billion Inflation Reduction Act (H.R. 5376) along party lines (51-50) this afternoon, concluding a marathon session that began Saturday evening. As expected, Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to approve the bill. The legislation will now be sent to the House of Representatives for consideration. House leadership announced last week that the chamber will return on Friday, Aug. 12 to vote on H.R. 5376. The House is not expected to make further changes to the legislation, and House passage of an unaltered bill would send it to President Joe Biden’s desk for final signature.

The Senate concluded its vote-a-rama on H.R. 5376 earlier today after approximately 15 hours of activity. The vote-a-rama was preceded by four hours of debate on the bill. Click here to see our final vote-a-rama tracker, which includes descriptions of the amendments, notes on discussion and information on final votes.

Senators offered 28 amendments on the floor for a vote, and two were ultimately adopted. Both adopted amendments concerned the bill’s 15% book profits minimum tax. The chamber approved an amendment offered by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) that effectively limits the application of the tax to the largest 150-200 companies; Sen. Thune offset this change with a one-year extension of the state and local tax (SALT) cap. However, the Senate subsequently approved an amendment offered by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) that funds the change through a two-year extension of the pass-through loss limitation rules under section 461(l), replacing the proposed extension of the SALT cap.

The Senate also sustained a motion against the bill’s cap on the price of insulin, striking it from the legislation. The chamber considered nine motions to commit, none of which were approved.

The Senate will now join the House in recess for the remainder of the summer; the House is scheduled to return for a committee work week on Sept. 6, while the Senate will return to session in Washington on the same date.

Below you will find links to key documents related to the Inflation Reduction Act:

• Substitute Amendment offered by Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). (S.Amdt. 5194)
• Joint Tax Committee’s Revenue Estimate of the Tax Provisions in the Schumer Substitute (JCT Estimate). Note: We believe this to be the latest score, though it is not currently posted on the JCT website.
• Partial Congressional Budget Office Score on the Schumer Substitute. (CBO Score)

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